Three new species of Acervus (Ascomycota, Pezizales) from South China

Some whitish, yellowish to orangish cup fungi collected in South China are described as three new species of Acervus based on morphological studies and four-locus (nrLSU, rpb1, rpb2 and tef-1α) phylogenetic analyses, namely A. aurorinus, A. crepusculinus and A. stellatus. A. aurorinus and A. crepusculinus have yellowish to orangish coloured ascomata and are similar to each other, but can be distinguished by the size of apothecium, colour brightness of hymenium surface, size of ascospores, shape of paraphyses and structure of medullary excipulum. A. stellatus represents the second Acervus taxon known to have whitish ascomata, similar to the earlier described A. epispartius f. albus, but can be distinguished from the latter by size of apothecium, shape of ascospores, asci and paraphyses, and structure of medullary excipulum and ectal excipulum.